Anything from paper crafts and vinyl to etching glass and making furniture

“If you can read this…” Socks

…a heat transfer vinyl project.

Many months ago, a photo of these socks crossed my desk: “If you can read this” on one sock and then ‘Bring me a beer’ on the other, so when the wearer sits with feet up, others in the room can read the message. Yowza, I thought, what an awesome idea to personalize for the hard-to-buy-for folks on my Christmas list this year! I tucked the idea away to bring out in the fall, and then BOOM! …the idea took off in Silhouette land; the socks became *a thing*.

My friends who use their Silhouette machines for business can’t make them fast enough…they are flying out the door. And I can see why. They’re fun, inexpensive, and quick to make—the perfect gift trifecta—and suitable for everyone from close friends & family to neighbors, the landlady, and the mailman.

Included in the free Silhouette file below are the first few I did this year. In addition to the traditional beer and wine messages, I tailored socks to the horse lover, book lover, tea lovers and scotch lovers in my life. Download the file and you’re all set to make your own socks.

Edited to say: the above files now also contains this design:

But…ya know, half the fun is matching the saying to the person receiving the socks, so don’t be limited by what I’ve done or what comes up on Pinterest. Make up something new and fabulous that’s especially suited to your recipient. What do they love? What are their hobbies? …favorite drink or food? In my next batch, I’ve got ‘Bring me a wee dram’, ‘Rub my feet’, ‘Bring me chocolate (the good stuff)’, ‘Shh… I’m watching the game’, ‘Bring me cake’, and ‘Bring me a thimble’.

What to do…

This is a pretty straightforward project (I told you it was quick and easy!). Cut and weed the design from heat transfer vinyl as you would normally, and apply with an iron or heat press. For details on how I work with HTV, check out my article HERE.

Tips & tricks…

Font – Choose an easy-to-read font and size the text large enough that it can be read from across the room. Due to the knitted sock texture, simple fonts will show up better and last longer than fancy or serif fonts. Avoid thin fonts, or thicken them with an offset before using. If you want to use the same font I did, it’s Lumberjack, a free public domain font from Dafont.com.

Size – I aimed for a design area of slightly smaller than 3″ x 5″. At that size, I could use vinyl pieces in nice round measurements, and the words stayed on the bottom of the foot (no wrapping around).

HTV – You want folks to be able to read the message from across the room so choose an HTV color that contrasts well with the color of your socks. Go bold.

Socks – Polyester and other man-made materials have a tendency to melt when the temps get up there, so I chose socks high (60%+) in natural material such as cotton and wool to avoid melting issues. The Kodiak socks I used come in men’s and women’s sizes and worked well. These are the women’s socks I used:

Positioning – It’s super easy to center the design on the sock bottom if you cut a piece of cardboard about 4″ x 12″, slide it inside the sock, and center the sock on the cardboard. You can see exactly where to place the HTV words. The cardboard also stretches the sock slightly to add more “give” to the HTV.

And that’s it. :^) Have fun!

Cheers!

–Eff

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When I click on the Silhouette file to download, it opens a blank page on a new internet tab??? This is what is in the address bar: https://app.box.com/s/uus21s45ki9scw0u5m1p36svsastgruo
Am I doing something wrong? I have also tried downloading the svg file, and it will not let me open it in Silhouette Studio.

I store my files at box.com or dropbox.com (these files are at box.com). What happens when you click the link depends on which browser you’re using and how you have things set up. In Firefox, I get a little window that asks if I want to Save or Open the file (I save it). In Chrome, it goes directly to saving the file, and I only know it’s saved because I get a little ribbon message in the bottom left of my screen that tells me the name of the file that was saved. In another browser/version/setup you may also end up in a new window opening at box.com with a button for you to download the file. But a blank page? Not supposed to happen. :^)

I just checked the link and had no trouble downloading the Silhouette file, so I don’t know what the explanation is…maybe a glitch on your computer or the download site? Try it again and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, come back and let me know and I’ll switch the link over to another provider.

As for the SVG file, Silhouette Studio can be finicky when it comes to SVGs. I frequently have issues when I try to open them directly from my downloads folder. Try opening the file from within Silhouette Studio instead (from the File menu in the upper left, choose ‘Open’ and navigate to where you downloaded the file, then double-click to open the file). Sometimes restarting the program helps. I hope this solves things. Please let me know if you continue to have problems with this.

Thank you for this post! So fun! Quick question though….have you worn any around for awhile. Does the HTV stay on the bottom of the sock okay? I will probably make a pair for myself and test them out! Let me know what you have found. Thank you!! XO

I wore them around the house for a while to test them out. They did fine on my hardwood floors and area rugs. If the HTV is applied properly, it melts into the sock fibers and becomes one with the socks (properly applied HTV actually takes on the shape of the material it’s applied to), so with normal wear there should be no issue of the HTV coming off. Let me know how your test goes. :^)

You sure can. :^) In fact, that’s all I use (I don’t have room for a heat press). An iron takes more time, but can give the same results as a heat press. I’ve done a ton of HTV with an iron and never had a lifting problem. You need three things…and it’s like legs on a three-legged stool—you need all three…if one is missing it doesn’t work: 1. A hot enough iron (some home irons don’t get hot enough…so check that the temp of your iron matches the specs of your HTV); 2. Low-temp HTV (such as Siser Easyweed, FDC, or Silhouette brand, etc) that applies around 305-315F. Some HTV brands (Flex, for example) require higher temps outside the range of most (all?) home irons so they’ll never apply properly with an iron; 3: Enough pressure. If you’re using a hot enough iron and low-temp HTV, then pressing down firmly on a hard surface (too much padding on an ironing board may not offer enough resistance) is sufficient. The rule of thumb for a heat press is that you have enough pressure if you put a dollar bill between the plates. close it, and then not be able remove the dollar bill. That’s completely doable with an iron. Okay, so a fourth thing…follow the application directions and press for the full recommended time, at first with the Teflon sheet or parchment paper between iron and carrier sheet, then remove the carrier sheet and repeat.

For more information on working with HTV, I did a brain dump of everything I know about HTV. You can find it here:

These are so cute! A friend asked me to make these for her. Can you tell me what the size of each saying is?It looks about like 3 in x 6 in, but I am guessing. Since I have a Cricut I have to recreate the file. The tip about the cotton socks was very helpful.

You got it right… 3″ x 5-6″ is a size that won’t wrap around the sock when worn. I drew a rectangle 3″ x 5″ and designed the words inside it as close to the edges as I could. Some ended up slightly larger… ‘Scotch’ was a tad wider, ‘Glass of Wine’ was a tad longer because of the extra row.

I use an iron, so I can’t offer much advice on heat press settings other than to say that each brand of HTV has recommended time and temperature settings for each product…they’ll vary even within a single brand—glitter HTV may have different settings/time than regular HTV, for example), so follow the application directions for the HTV you’re using. You can find that info on the brand website.

For the Siser Easyweed that I used in this project, the specs suggest 305F for 10-15 seconds. And if it’s not adhered properly in that time, I press a little longer. You’ll know the HTV is applied properly when the HTV takes on the shape of the fabric fibers. For a photo example of what this looks like, go to the “How I Work with HTV” tutorial here: http://www.whatchaworkinon.com/working-with-heat-transfer-vinyl and scroll down to the black letters on blue denim pic.

The higher the synthetic content (e.g. acrylic) of the sock, the more likely it is to melt under a hot iron or heat press. I haven’t experimented with socks other than the Kodiak ones I mentioned in the blog post. Even those ones are only around 60% natural fiber and are clearly marked “Do not iron”, so I was a little leary about how they’d do, but after a couple dozen socks, I haven’t had any melting issues. If you want to try a high acrylic sock, I would proceed cautiously and experiment on one to see if it melts. If it does, you may be able to reduce the temperature enough to prevent melting. If you do reduce the temp, you’ll probably have to press for a longer time.

Hi Eff, I LOVE your website! You mentioned your friends in business who are selling these socks. Can you please refer me to them? I would love to get a bunch of these socks for Christmas. I am in Ventura County, Calif and would be shipping them here and possibly to Phoenix, Arizona, in case that matters. I would like to purchase approx. 20 pair of the “Bring me my Starbucks” socks. I saw a post with them on FB that my d.i.l. and granddaughter liked and said how much they wanted these. Searched for commerce sites carrying these socks and only came up with bellelily.com (which appears to be a scam site) and The Mint Orchid (which seems really nice but is quite expensive, is located in Canada, and won’t ship for at least two weeks or more). Thanks SO much for your time! ~Janet

Thanks, Janet! There are independent crafters with small businesses all across the continent that make these socks. The problem is we’re only a week out from Christmas with little time left for Christmas delivery. All of the folks I know who make/sell them have cut off taking new orders…they’re working on the orders they have and then stopping to spend time with their families for Christmas. Many have already stopped and won’t ship again until January. I belong to several Facebook groups and can see if I can find someone in your area for after Christmas, if you’d like. Let me know if you’d like me to do that. Sorry, the news isn’t better.

Eff, I understand perfectly; it was a very long shot that someone might be able to do this at such a late hour. And yes, I would love to get connected to someone who could do this for me in January. Thank you SO much for taking the time to help me with this. I hope you have very Merry Holidays and a shiny bright New Year!

Hello! I am new to your site and I am in love! Thank you for sharing all of this great info. I have just purchased my Silhouette cameo and have tried to make these socks and have made a few pairs (some with glitter HTV and some with regular) and sold them to friends. One friend has complained that he HTV is coming off on the bottom (the top is completely adhered). I have given her a new pair of socks and they are also peeling off!

I don’t know what I could be doing wrong as I have altered my techniques in hopes of solving this problem!

Applying HTV with an iron is entirely doable–I do it all the time—but if the HTV is coming off, then something went awry in the application process. Without knowing your process, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what went wrong, but it boils down to one of four reasons:

1. Wrong HTV – When applying with an iron, you need to use a low-temp HTV (with an application temp of 315F or lower). If you used Siser Easyweed, FDC or Silhouette brand, they’re all low-temp, so your HTV isn’t the problem . If you used any other brand, check the application temp, and if it’s higher than 315F use a different brand next time.2. Iron’s not hot enough – even low-temp HTV is at the upper end of the temp range of most irons, and some irons just don’t get hot enough.3. Not enough pressure – You need good solid pressure on a surface that will resist.4. Not pressed long enough You must use the manufacturer’s full recommended time, and maybe a bit longer. Use the second hand on a clock; counting out loud is notoriously inaccurate. It’s better to go longer than shorter.

You’ll know HTV is applied properly when it takes on the shape of the fabric fibers underneath. I’ve got a picture of what this looks like, how you can test your iron temp, and lots of other detail about these four points in How I Work with Heat Transfer Vinyl here:

Not with the free download files as is. The proprietary Silhouette files will only work on Silhouette cutters. However, if you download one of the free download files (it doesn’t matter which one), then convert it to an SVG file here:

…you should be able to save the SVG and open it in your Cricut machine. However, the conversion changes the size of the design, making it much larger than will fit on the bottom of a sock, so you’ll have to adjust the sizing before cutting…aim for a max of 3″ wide and 5-6″ tall.

EDITED TO SAY: Here is the link to the SVG (I’ve also added it above in the blog post).

No, sorry Marge, I don’t sell heat transfer vinyl. If you’re in Canada, and are looking to buy them in volume for resale, check out scriptdesigns.ca and if you’re in the U.S. check out etsy.com and search for IF YOU CAN READ THIS. This will bring up folks who sell the socks. They may be willing to sell just the heat transfer vinyl ready for you to apply. Good luck in your search. :^)

For this Lumberjack font, I used a font size of 73pt. But that’s not very useful information since fonts don’t necessarily look the same size even if they have the same size number. The more important thing to keep in mind is the total design area. For socks, somewhere around 3″x 5″ is good. Draw a rectangle that size and then design within that area. Add the words you want in four rows (sometimes you can squeeze out a fifth) and play with the size until it looks good. My letters were somewhere around 2/3″ to 3/4″ tall, but again, I didn’t pay attention to the numbers…I resized them by dragging the corner of the text boxes until they looked good (resize all the text boxes at the same time…hold the shift key down to select more than one at a time). You can download my file and use it as template for sizing until you get comfortable with what will work. :^)

If the HTV is applied properly, it melts into the sock fibers and becomes one with the socks (properly applied HTV actually takes on the shape of the material it’s applied to), so it should wash just fine. With normal wear there should be no issue of the HTV coming off. Of course, you wouldn’t want to wear them while walking on concrete or other rough surfaces, but around the house and inside shoes, no problem.

Thanks for all the information. I am a newbie at this HTV and did lots of research before I started. Your blog is the most helpful. I made a first pair of socks and they turned out awesome thanks to you. Thanks so much for the files. You Rock!!!

Aw, thank you for your kind words, Sadie! You made my day. So glad your socks were a success. Have fun making more. Be careful though…it can become addictive. I think everyone in my life has at least one pair! LOL

I just came across your post and files via pinterest. Thanks so much for the file! These are amazing and will be perfect for next Christmas for in my adult kids’ christmas stockings! Can’t wait to make them.

I'm Eff...…part word/math/science nerd, Swiss chocolate fiend, and seasoned mom, always up to my eyeballs in something creative. Join me as I share what I'm working on...anything from paper crafts and vinyl to glass etching and furniture making. Most of my projects involve my Silhouette cutting machine and I share free files so you can play, too! Be sure to check out the project gallery and tutorials list.

I write about what I create and that’s driven by life, inspiration, and how complicated the projects are, so I don't post on a schedule. To catch new posts and tutorials, subscribe. I’ll fire you an email when I add new things. Read more...

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